Times Square car bomb: authorities believe Faisal Shahzad acted alone

The Pakistani-American accused of plotting to car bomb Times Square is believed to have worked alone in the United States on the plot almost immediately after returning from a five-month visit to his native land, authorities have said.

The suspected Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad with his wife Huma Milan

7:00AM BST 06 May 2010

They said they have yet to find a wider link to extremist groups.

Two new surveillance videos emerged of the bomb suspect, Faisal Shahzad. Police told The Associated Press that one video shows him in a white baseball cap and a dark jacket walking away from the smoking, bomb-laden Nissan Pathfinder.

The second video showed him buying a weak batch of fireworks in a store in Pennsylvania, according to the shop's owner.

Shahzad faces terrorism and weapons charges after authorities claimed that he rigged the Pathfinder with a crude bomb of firecrackers, propane and alarm clocks based on explosives training he received in Pakistan. Authorities said he was cooperating with investigators.

They indicated that Shahzad, the 30-year-old son of a retired air force official in Pakistan, had launched the bomb plot alone almost immediately after returning to his Connecticut home in February from the visit to Pakistan.

A law enforcement official said that authorities don't believe there are any other US suspects in the plot and that several arrests in Pakistan in the past two days were not related.

New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told a Senate panel that Shahzad bought the gun found in his car at Kennedy Airport in March, when he appeared to move ahead on the bombing plot.

"It appears from some of his other activities that March is when he decided to put this plan in motion," Mr Kelly said. "He came back from Pakistan Feb. 3, 2010. It may well have been an indicator of putting something catastrophic in motion."

Law enforcement officials in Washington said they had not verified statements made by investigators that Shahzad said he was trained in Pakistan for the attack.

Shahzad was hauled off a Dubai-bound plane he had boarded on Monday night at Kennedy Airport despite being under surveillance and placed on the federal no-fly list.

"I was expecting you. Are you NYPD or FBI?" Shahzad told Customs officials who came aboard the jet to arrest him, an official with knowledge of the investigation said.

The government said Wednesday it would require airlines to check no-fly lists within two hours of being notified of updates, after Shahzad was able to board his Emirates flight despite being placed on the list. The airline apparently failed to check the latest version of the terror watch list that included Shahzad's name.

Until now, airlines had been required to check for list updates every 24 hours.